ASWAN, Upper Egypt – Director General of the National Service Products Organisation (NSPO) Walid Hussein Abul Magd asserted that wheat is a strategic commodity that represents a top priority for the Egyptian state.
In his word on Thursday during the start of the wheat harvest season in Toshka in the Upper Egypt governorate of Aswan, Abul Magd said that the Egyptian state took a big step towards working on increasing the areas planted with wheat.
Wheat is one of the most important food harvests in Egypt, he said, adding that four months have passed on the inauguration of Toshka farm.
Abul Magd said that 220,000 feddans of wheat in Toshka, Ouwaiynat, Farafra and Ein Dalah were reclaimed and planted to produce 550,000 tons of wheat to be stored in the silos of the Ministry of Supply.
He said that Egypt aims at reclaiming and planting 530,000 additional feddans as part of the second and third stages of Toshka project in cooperation with the Armed Forces Engineering Authority, the Ministry of Agriculture and the bodies concerned to make a total production of 750,000 feddans.
He added that 400,000 feddans will be added in Dabaa area as part of New Delta project to make a total production of 1.2 million feddans.
Abul Magd said that President Sisi gave directives to the bodies concerned and the private sector to distribute 600 million school meals to 13.5 million students in the current academic year in order to build strong generations capable of shouldering responsibility.
He pointed out to the new projects planned to be inaugurated in 2022 in the animal production complexes, machine butchery, manufacturers of all kinds of cheese, egg production units and potato production factory which contribute to bridging the food gap of the Egyptian citizens.
This comes within the framework of continuous coordination with all the bodies of the state especially the Ministry of Supply to maintain reserves of food and strategic commodities.
The NSPO will witness the inauguration of a number of national projects in the different domains.